Flash-light lamp.



Patented Apr. 30, l90l. H. B. WAITE.

FLASH LIGHT LAMP.

v m umio filed Nov. 30, 1900.) (No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HARRISON B. WAITE, ()F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO LAWRENCE MARKEY, OF SAME PLACE.

FLASH-LIGHT LAMP.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent N o. 67%,926, dated April 30, 1901.

I Application filed November 30, 1900. Serial No. 38,172- (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HARRISON B. WAITE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, county of Cook, State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Flash-Light Lamps, of which the following is a specification.

Myinvention contemplates the use of pun as a means for igniting the powder in a flashlight lamp, and has for its more prominent objects, first, a construction whereby the powder can be ignited by bringing into direct contact therewith the incandescent portion,

of a stick or body of lighted punk; second, a construction whereby as the result of the impact of the incandescent portion of a stick or body of lighted punk against an abutment incandescent particles will be separated from the punk and permitted to drop upon the powder, so as to ignite the same; third, a safe,

simple, reliable, and readily-responsive flashlight lamp adapted for 'both professional and amateur photographers and involving an economical construction, whereby it can be sold at a price particularly agreeable to amateurs, and, fourth, the provision of various details serving to increase the general serviceability of flash-light lamps.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 illustrates, partly in top plan and partly in section, on a horizontal plane, a flash-light lamp embodying the principles of my invention, a portion of the flexible tube of a pneumatic device employed being broken away for convenience of illustration. Fig. 2 illustrates the machine, partly in side elevation and partly in section, on a vertical plane, the lower portion of the supporting stand or tripod being broken away. Fig. 3 shows the section and partly in elevation, and illustrates in dotted lines a piece of punk in the act of impinging against said abutment. Fig. 4 shows the reciprocating piston,which operates as a sliding rack.

A indicates a pan or plate upon which a suitable quantity of flash-light powder is to be placed. The ignition of the flash-light powder thus placed upon the pan or plate is attained by the direct contact of incandescent punk with the powder, and such ignifire-scattering abutment, partly in vertical tion of the flash-light powder is further insured first by rapidly moving the. punk in a direction to bring its incandescent portion against a suitably high pile of flash-light pow- 5 5 der arranged upon the plate or pan and next by causing'such movement on the part of the punk to bring its incandescent portion forcibly against an abutment adapted and arranged to effect the separation from the punk of incandescent particles thereof and permit such separated incandescent particles to fall down upon the powder. In this way should the punk from any cause fail in the first instance to ignite the powder the impact of its incandescent end against the fire-distributing abutment will cause the powder to be ignited without loss of time.

The punk B is carried by a movable carrier C, comprising, as a simple and efficient construction, a swinging arm 0, provided at its outer or forward end with a holder 0 for the punk. The inner or back end of the arm is provided with or secured to a rotary hub or support, which is operated from or by a recip rocating slide or piston D, the latter being in turn actuated by suitable means-such, for example, as a pneumatic device, comprising a rubber bulb E, connected by a flexible tube F with a hollow stem G, upon which the piston is arranged to work. In this simple construction of means for operating the vibratory punk-carrier the rotary hub or support for the arm 0 of the vibratory punk-carrier can be united with, or, as illustrated, it may of itself form, a rotary gear H, arranged to engage a rack or series of rack-teeth 01, extending, along the reciprocating piston. In this way the piston, which acts as a reciprocating slide, is gear-connected with the vibratory punko carrier, so as to operate the latter. The forward end of the piston is closed, as at (1, so

that when an end aperture e in the elastic bulb is closed by the finger of the operator and the bulb compressed the resulting com- 5 pression of air within the hollow stem or barrel G, which opens at one end into the hollow piston,will cause the latter to move forwardly, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1, and

thereby swing the vibratory punk-carrier toward the pan or plate by reason of the gear or like operative mechanical connection between the piston and the punk-carrier. The reverse of this operation is also readily attained by relieving the bulb from compressive action and permitting it to expand to its normal condition while its aperture eis closed.

. The pan or plate for the flash-light powder is provided with a bracket-arm I, connected at one end with the pan or plate and at its opposite end provided with suitable bearings for the tubular guide-stem or barrel G and for the spindles or journals of the rotary reciprocating gear H. The arm I is attached to the pan or plate by an adjustable hinge or pivotal connection as, for example, it may have at one end portion a vertical spindle 2', arranged to extend through an opening in the pan or plate and engage in an adjustable hand-nut K, which can be tightened against the plate in order to hold the arm in desired position relatively to the latter. The arm I can be adjusted so as to maintain the punk suitably remote from the pan or plate when the punkcarrier is in its back position, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, and the punk-carrieris preferably arranged to swing horizontally in a plane parallel with the plane of the pan or plate and over the latter, so that when a suitable quantity of powder is placed upon the pan or plate the forward swing of the punkcarrier will project the incandescent end of the punk directly into or over and in close proximity to the powder, according to the height of the mass upon the pan or plate, and also cause the incandescent end of the punk to impinge or impact against a fire-scattering device or abutment L, arranged over the pan or plate and in position to permit the incandescent portions of the lighted punk, which are separated therefrom by reason of its e11- gagement with the abutment, to fall upon the powder. When, therefore, the parts or members are relatively positioned, substantially as in Fig. 1, the vibratory punk-carrier will be in its back position, and thereby normally maintain the punk suitably remote from the pan. The powder in any desired quantity can be placed upon the pan and disposed thereon so that when the punk-carrier is caused to swing forward, as indicated by dotted lines, Fig. 1, its lighted end while sweeping over a portion of the pan or plate will first contact with such powder as may be in its way and then engage the fire-scattering abutment L. If, therefore, the punk fails to ignite the powder by its primary direct contact therewith, as where a collection of ash on the lighted end of the punk prevents such ignition or where the powder-happens to be just below the path of the lighted punk, the impact of the punk against the fire-scattering abutment will serve to produce the desired result.

The flash-light lamp or device thus described can be supported in any suitable way, a simple and preferred arrangement being to adapt the pan or plate for temporary securement upon an ordinary stand or tripod M by a stem-and-socket connection N and suitable adjusting and fastening means, such as a setscrew 0. While the fire-scattering device L can be attached to or forward upon the pan or plate in any desired way, itis as a matter of further improvement provided upon the adjustable arm l,whereby its relationship to the punk-carrier can be easily maintained, the principle involved being that the fire-scattering device L is adjustable upon the pan or plate, so that it can be positioned with reference to the operation of the punk-carrier. The abutment or fire-scattering device is suitably formed to cause the dislodgment of lighted particles of punk from the punk stick or body when the lighted end of the punk abuts against or engages such abutment, a simple way being to provide the fire-scattering abutment with teeth, such as illustrated. The arrangement of the arm I thus attached to the pan or plate permits it to be swung over the pan or plate when the machine is not in use. This brings the parts into compact form for transportation, and after removing the pan or plate from the stand or tripod the pan or plate and the mechanism associated therewith can as a whole be placed in a comparatively small case, so as to be conveniently carried by the operator.

To the attainment ofsome of the foregoingdescribed ends the parts could obviously be organized so as to permit the punk-carrier to swing over the plate or pan in a vertical plane, so as to bring the punk downwardly against the powder or a fire-scattering abutment; but as a matter of further improvement I arrange the vibratory punk-carrier to sweep over the plate or pan for reasons hereinbefore set forth. The described construction admits of a comparatively light vibratory punk-carrier, which is readily responsive to an impulse of the motive power employed, and by providing such punk-carrier with an arm a of suitable length a short stroke of the rack slide or piston D will effect a quick and comparatively wide range of sweep or swing on the part of the punk held at the outer or forward end of such arm.

The construction herein involved also permits the convenient duplication or multiplication of the described mechanism where it is desired to simultaneously ignite separate quantities of powder at different points, and to such end the piston may have a rod 01 arranged to extend therefrom and to connect with and operate a vibratory punk-carrier at a point farther on. By such arrangement the operation of one piston serving to operate one vibratory punk-carrier will positively and simultaneously efiect the operation of other like vibratory punk-carriers arranged for use in connection with separate quantities of powder upon an extension of the pan or plate shown or upon addditional pans or plates.

From the foregoing it will be seen that where the mass of powder is suitably thick or heaped upon the pan or plate the incandescent end of the punk can be brought into direct contact with the powder where the punk-carrier is moved in a direction toward the same and that prior to such operation the punk-carrier will be in position to maintain the punk remote from the pan or plate, so that when powder is being placed upon the pan or plate and also after it has been placed thereon there will be no chance of its becoming accidentally ignited; also, that the incandescent punk can be brought into direct contact with the powder either by coming in contact with the powder before striking the abutment or by striking the abutment, which separates incandescent particles from the lighted end of the punk and permits them to come into direct contact with powder adjacent to such abutment. I

What I claim as my invention is 1. A flash-light lamp comprising a pan or plate whereon the powder that is to be ignited can be and is placed in suitable mass subject to the direct action of a piece of ignited punk; and igniting means comprising a vibratory punk-carrier provided with punk and arranged to swing in a path over the pan or plate and toward and away from the exposed mass of powder to an extent and in a direction to cause the forward swing of the punkholder relatively to the powder to project a piece of ignited punk carried by such swinging holder directly against the exposed surface of the mass of powder on the pan or plate.

2. A flash-light lamp comprising a pan or plate whereon the powder to be ignited is placed; a movable punk-carrier adapted to carry a piece of lighted punk and arranged to move the punk toward the powder upon the pan or plate; an abutment or fire-scat tering device arranged to be engaged by an incandescent portion of the lighted punk and to dislodge incandescent particles therefrom and permit the same to fall upon the powder 3 when such abutment or fire-scattering device is struck by the moving punk; and suitable means for operating the movable punk-carrier.

3. A flash-light lamp comprising a panor plate upon which the powder to be ignited is placed; a vibratory punk-carrier adapted to swing over the pan or plate; an abutment or fire-scattering device arranged over the pan or plate in the path of a piece of punk carried by the vibratory punk-carrier and adapted when struck by the incandescent portion of the punk to dislodge incandescent particles. therefrom and permit the same to fall upon the powder on the pan or plate; and suitable means for operating the vibratory punk-carrier.

4. A flash-light lamp comprising a pan or plate whereon the powder to be ignited is placed; a horizontally-swinging punk-carrier adapted to normally maintaina piece of punk carried thereby back and away from the plate,

and to swing forwardly from such position and cause the punk to sweep over the pan or plate and contact with powder thereon in a path traversed by a lighted portion ofthe punk; and suitable means for operating the vibratory punk-carrier.

5. A flash-light lamp comprising a pan or plate whereon the powder to be ignited is placed; a horizontally-swinging punk-carrier adapted to normally maintaina piece of punk carried thereby away from the powder on the pan or plate; and to swing forwardly from such position and cause the punk to sweep over the pan or plate; an abutment or firescattering device arranged over the pan and in the way of the lighted end of a piece of punk carried by the forwardly-moving punkcarrier; and suitable means for operating the vibratory punk-carrier.

6. A flash-light lamp comprising a pan or plate for the powder; a vibratory arm provided with a punk-holder and arranged to swing the punk-holder over the pan or plate in a direction to permit its forward swing to project a piece of ignited punk carried by such holder against a mass of powder exposed upon the pan or plate; a reciprocating slide; operating connection between the vibratory arm and reciprocating slide and adapted to actuate the former from the latter; and suitable means for operating the reciprocating slide.

7. A flash-light lamp comprising a pan or plate for the powder; a vibratory arm provided with a punk-holder and arranged to swing the punk-holder over the pan or plate in a direction to permit its forward swing to project a piece of ignited punk carried by such holder against a mass of powder exposed upon the pan or plate; a reciprocating piston gear-connected with the vibratory arm to operate the same; and a pneumatic device for operating the piston.

8. A flash-light lamp comprising a pan or plate for the powder; a bracket-arm attached to the plate; a vibratory punk-carrier supported by the bracket-arm and arranged to swing the punk-holder over the pan or plate in a direction to permit its forward swing to project a piece of ignited punk carried by such holder against a mass of powder exposed upon the pan or plate; a reciprocating piston carried by the bracket-arm and gear-connected with the vibratory punk-carrier to operate the same; and a suitable pneumatic device for operating the piston.

9. A flash-light lamp comprising a pan or plate for the powder; a swinging bracketarm adjustably secured'to the pan or plate; a vibratory punk-carrier supported by the bracket-arm; and suitable means for operating the vibratory punk-carrier.

10. A flash-light machine comprising a pan or plate for the powder; a swinging bracketarm pivoted to the pan or plate; a vibratory punk-carrier supported by the bracket-arm;

10 to an extent to cause its forward swing to project the ignited punk directly against the mass of powder thus exposed, and to cause its back swing to terminate at a point which normally positions the punk away from and at one side of the pan or plate.

HARRISON B. WAITE.

Witnesses:

CHAS. G. PAGE, ARTHUR G. OLSEN. 

